PMA, ILWU talks must consider port productivity, industry leaders say

As they negotiate a new labor contract to replace the one that expires July 1, representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association should be thinking about how to make the ports more productive in the long term, industry officials say, and not just about the issues confronting the shipping industry in the next few years. “There are two things at stake in my view. There is the short term ... can we get through this year without disruption and turmoil at the ports? People want to avoid that,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. “So we want a contract, but is that all we want? “A good contract, in my view, would be one where ...